Alan Gross, who was imprisoned for five years in Cuba for his work connecting its Jewish community to the Internet, marked the one-year anniversary of his release pledging to advance warmer U.S.-Cuba ties.

American former prisoner Alan Gross said remembering how his family survived the Holocaust helped him through five years of imprisonment in Cuba, where he was held on espionage charges, according to interview excerpts released on Friday.

Alan Gross, the Jewish-American government contractor who was jailed in Cuba for five years as a spy, was never debriefed after his release from prison and return to the United States, according to a new report.